Perplexity

About Perplexity

Financials

Dated, source-cited figures. Estimates are marked.

Products by Perplexity

All products by Perplexity reviewed by our AI panel of experts.

Perplexity AIAI Search & Knowledge

Ask anything, get answers with sources

From $20/mo7.7/10

Perplexity LabsAI Agents & Assistants

Test and compare open-source language models in your browser

From $10/mo7.2/10

How Our Review Panel Scores Perplexity

Six independent reviewer personalities assessed Perplexity's products on their own terms. They disagreed by 2.1 points — The Skeptic was the hardest to convince, The Finance Lead the most positive.

Averaged across 2 reviewed products in our catalog. Scores are out of 10.

Competitive Landscape

Who Perplexity competes with, and how they differ.

OpenAI7.9/10

ChatGPT with browsing/search mode competes directly as a conversational answer engine, backed by a much larger consumer user base and broader chatbot feature set beyond search.

2 products reviewed on TopReviewed

Google8.0/10

Gemini and AI Overviews integrate generative answers directly into Google's dominant search engine and free consumer product suite, leveraging a proprietary web index Perplexity lacks.

6 products reviewed on TopReviewed

Anthropic8.2/10

Claude offers web search-augmented answers but is positioned more as a general-purpose assistant and developer API platform than a dedicated search/answer engine.

3 products reviewed on TopReviewed

Kagi Inc.7.8/10

Kagi is a paid, privacy-focused search engine with an optional AI assistant, targeting users who want ad-free traditional search rather than an AI-first answer experience.

1 product reviewed on TopReviewed

Exa Labs8.1/10

Exa Search sells its neural search API to developers building AI applications, rather than offering a consumer-facing answer engine.

1 product reviewed on TopReviewed

You.com7.9/10

You.com is a direct consumer competitor offering an AI search engine with cited answers and customizable modes, similarly monetized via subscription.

1 product reviewed on TopReviewed

Company Timeline

Key milestones in Perplexity's history, with sources.

1. Oct 2, 2025Launch

   Comet browser goes free worldwide

   Perplexity removed the subscription requirement and released Comet globally at no cost after a three-month limited rollout during which millions of users joined the waitlist.

   ppc.land
2. September 2025Funding

   $200M raised at $20B valuation

   Perplexity finalized a $200 million round at a $20 billion valuation, capping a run that took the company from $520 million to $20 billion in roughly 20 months.

   finance.yahoo.com
3. Aug 12, 2025Milestone

   Unsolicited $34.5B all-cash offer for Google Chrome

   Perplexity made an unsolicited $34.5 billion all-cash bid for Alphabet's Chrome browser, a figure well above its own valuation at the time; Google had not offered Chrome for sale.

   finance.yahoo.com
4. Jul 9, 2025Launch

   Comet AI browser launches

   Perplexity released Comet, a Chromium-based browser with its answer engine built in, for Windows and macOS, initially limited to subscribers of its $200-per-month Max plan.

   en.wikipedia.org
5. Jan 18, 2025Milestone

   Bids to merge with TikTok's U.S. business

   Perplexity submitted a proposal to ByteDance to merge with TikTok U.S.; a later revision would have allowed the U.S. government to hold up to a 50% non-voting stake in the combined entity.

   cbsnews.com
6. December 2024Funding

   Series D — $500M led by IVP at $9B valuation

   Perplexity closed a $500 million round led by IVP in early December 2024, roughly tripling its valuation to $9 billion within six months.

   techcrunch.com
7. Apr 23, 2024Funding

   $62.7M round led by Daniel Gross tops $1B valuation

   The round, led by Daniel Gross with participation from Stanley Druckenmiller and Garry Tan, roughly doubled Perplexity's valuation to more than $1 billion.

   siliconangle.com
8. Apr 23, 2024Launch

   Enterprise Pro launches as first B2B offering

   Perplexity introduced Enterprise Pro at $40 per user per month, adding team member management and data-retention controls for business customers.

   siliconangle.com
9. Jan 4, 2024Funding

   Series B — $73.6M led by IVP at $520M valuation

   Perplexity raised $73.6 million in a Series B round led by IVP, valuing the AI search startup at $520 million post-money.

   techcrunch.com
10. Dec 7, 2022Launch

    Perplexity answer engine launches publicly

    Perplexity released its conversational answer engine on December 7, 2022, shortly after ChatGPT's debut, answering questions directly with cited sources.

    en.wikipedia.org
11. August 2022Founded

    Perplexity founded in San Francisco

    Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski founded Perplexity in August 2022, bringing backgrounds in back-end systems, AI, and machine learning.

    en.wikipedia.org